1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a rear gate assembly for a motor vehicle, and more particularly to an apparatus for sequentially releasing a back glass and a rear gate of a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the more interesting trends in the automobile industry is to provide hybrid vehicles, i.e., a vehicle that can serve multiple purposes by combining features of more traditional vehicle types.
Many of these vehicles are aimed at combining the ability to transport people comfortably and the ability to transport objects. Many of these hybrid vehicles include a door at the rear combined with a window. This rear door and window combination may be referred to as a rear gate.
Commonly, the door and window are hinged, the window at the top half of a rear gate opening in the vehicle and the door at the bottom half of the rear gate opening (either the side or bottom). In order to facilitate movement of objects into and out of the vehicle through the rear both the rear door and the rear back glass must be opened.
In order to fully open the rear gate the back glass must be opened prior to the door. Prior rear gate door handle assembly required two separate actions in order to open both the door and rear back glass. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,374 issued to Frederick F. Bender et al, on Mar. 22, 1994, opening of the rear back glass requires actuation of a pushbutton and opening of the door requires actuation of a door handle.
The present invention is aimed at one or more of the problems set forth above.